Preparations For Walking The Tokaido Road In Japan
Preparations For Walking The Tokaido Road In Japan
After many months of diving in Indonesia and the Philippines, and photographing the beautiful little creatures that live in the sea, we are now flying to Japan to walk the Old Tokaido road. The Tokaido road was established by the feudal government during the Edo period.
The Tokaido roughly means "The eastern sea route.” It was the most important of the five routes that crisscrossed Japan during the Edo period between 1600 and 1868. At that time, Kyoto was the capital city of Japan and the Tokaido Road ran between Tokyo (which was called Edo at that time) and Kyoto.
The Tokaido was much more popular and heavily traveled than the inland Nakasendo road, since it ran along the sea for much of the way. Government officials had a large convoy which included servants, horses and supplies brought with them, which they used to replenish in one of the 53 Stations along the way.
These stations were like Caravanserais in the 13th century, which were inns with a central courtyard for travellers and their animals in the desert regions of Asia or North Africa. Travelers along the way stayed, dined and resupplied in those caravanserais.
The Old Tokaido road is estimated to be 520 kilometres long, but the old road is no longer in existence. Cities have sprouted along the way and some of the old stations have grown to become towns.
My estimate for the walking distance of this pilgrimage, which includes sightseeing in the cities along the way, is closer to 700 kilometers. I am calling it a pilgrimage, despite its being a non religious journey, because to me, all long distance walks are a sort of a pilgrimage, even if we don’t visit temples along the route.
This is because I am not walking these distances only in order to become stronger, mentally alert and to stay physically fit. I am seeking Self Mastery. I am seeking to transform myself from a mortal woman in the body of a mature lady, to an immortal being in an immortal light-filled energy body.
Self Mastery is my goal and aim in life. God created us in His/Her image, as immortal, omnipotent, omniscient, love filled beings, perfect and beautiful and whole. Despite our Divine inheritance, we imagine ourselves to be only humans, fallible, vulnerable, able to be sick and nothing more than mere mortal beings.
Our ego stands in the way of our Self Mastery. It is not your friends and family who teach you those lies about yourself, it is a persistent inner voice that repeats those lies in your ears, from the moment you wake up to your bedtimes.
There is a saying that: “She who conquers herself, is greater than he who conquers a whole city.”
This is because the journey of Self Mastery is fought every moment of every day. Not with swords and guns, but by listening to your thoughts and feelings, sorting out the lies from the eternal Truth.
We will be walking this pilgrimage with our friends Joseph and Wendy. We will meet in Kyoto and walk from Kyoto to Tokyo, along with plenty of extra days to enjoy the cities along the way.
I have been following the weather forecast in Japan, noticing that it will be a cold start to the pilgrimage, with chilly mornings and evenings with temperatures in the low 30’s-40’s Fahrenheit. Since we didn’t plan for this pilgrimage when we left home, we had brought no warm clothes with us. No coats, hats or gloves, only beach clothes for long weeks of diving.
In Manila, we bought some lightweight down jackets, along with long winter underwear to keep us warm. It is a very hot 90 degrees in Manila now, so no stores are selling warm winter hats and gloves. We will buy those after landing in Japan. We carefully chose what to carry in our backpacks, trimming down the weight to the absolute minimum.
But still, with the weight of our warm clothes, toiletries, electronics, a tea thermos and foldable cups, hats and mini-umbrellas, our backpacks are not as light as we would like.
After months of daily diving, my hair was bleached white and brittle from the salty water and sun, even though I moisturised it before and after my daily diving. So after buying everything we needed for the pilgrimage, I got a Keratin hair treatment in a nice salon in Manila.
I got my first Keratin treatment in Bangkok a few months ago, and I loved it. My hair felt soft and bouncy again.
Now we are ready to go. I am a bit nervous and very excited to be walking again.
These photos are from some of my dives in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Sending you love and sunshine from Manila,
Tali
